The strike is almost over Unite appears to have failed to bring down BA
Last week I wrote the following:
"The strike is beginning to crumble as the majority of cabin crew turn up for work.
News just in from British Airways operations at both Heathrow and Gatwick conclusively demonstrates that the strike is beginning to crumble. Over 50% of cabin crew are turning up for work in defiance and as a direct challenge to the power of Unite. Pilots who had been called in to act as cabin crew are being redirected to work as pilots on the flight deck of additional services, as full cabin crew compliments are turning up for work. The atmosphere in the crew report centers is excellent with a real esprit de corps. Although it is still early to make a definite judgement on the state of the strike the signs are increasingly positive.
Cabin crew who are failing to report are being suspended indefinitely without pay and their future employment status remains uncertain. It looks like Mr Walsh is achieving a remarkable result and for this we should all be very relieved. The United Kingdom cannot afford a return to the destructive strikes of the 70s and if BA can weather this strike then this will certainly usher in a new post militant union era."
This weekend will almost certainly herald the end of the strike and the return to normal operations. Unite will not have been 'broken', whatever that means, but they will clearly have had to accept a management compiled cost saving program. The BASSA militants will have the choice of staying with BA and accept the new deal or leave.
This will herald a sea chance in industrial relations in Britain and allow those who took a more pragmatic, and dare I say realistic, approach towards company costs, prevail over the militants.